Bowel Injury and Insidious Pneumoperitoneum after Lateral Lumbar Interbody Fusion
- Author:
Eui Seung HWANG
1
;
Kook Jong KIM
;
Choon Sung LEE
;
Mi Young LEE
;
So Jung YOON
;
Jae Woo PARK
;
Jae Hwan CHO
;
Dong-Ho LEE
Author Information
- Publication Type:Clinical Study
- From:Asian Spine Journal 2022;16(4):486-492
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:English
-
Abstract:
Methods:A total of 90 patients underwent APCT within 48 hours of surgery. Medical records were reviewed to determine each patient’s age, sex, body mass index, medical and surgical histories, characteristics of LLIF procedures, and subjective symptoms and abnormal findings in the physical examination related to acute abdomen after surgery. Various parameters were compared between patients with and without pneumoperitoneum.
Results:Bowel injuries were identified in the first two patients and five patients (5.5%) were diagnosed with pneumoperitoneum only on APCT. We found that the greater the number of fused segments, the higher the incidence of postoperative bowel injury and/or pneumoperitoneum. The incidence was significantly high when the L2–3 level was included in the LLIF surgery.
Conclusions:Pneumoperitoneum after LLIF indicates damage to the peritoneum and the presence of bowel injury that may lead to peritonitis. However, it is difficult to distinguish pneumoperitoneum and/or bowel injury from general abdominal pain after surgery because patients may present with a wide range of symptoms. We recommend that APCT be routinely performed after LLIF surgery in order to promptly identify pneumoperitoneum and bowel injury.
